Delhi : Chandni Chowk’s Bhagirath Palace Market burning even after 24 hours, 150 shops ablaze so far
A massive fire broke out in the buildings in the electronic market located at Bhagirath Palace in Delhi on Thursday night, which gutted around 150 shops. Due to the fire, some part of a building collapsed. Three buildings have collapsed in the fierce fire and about 150 shops have been gutted. At the same time, the fire is so terrible that even after 24 hours, it has not yet been completely controlled.
“Out of 5 big buildings affected by the fire, three have collapsed, however, no casualties or injuries have been reported as the fire broke out after all the shops were closed. The fire was brought under control on Friday morning But in the evening it spread again and became severe once again. It’s been almost 24 hours since the fire broke out and firefighters are still struggling to douse the flames.” A senior police officer told news agency PTI.
An official of the fire department said that at 9 pm on Friday night, 20 fire tenders were engaged in extinguishing the fire. Since last night till now 40 fire tenders have been deployed. Officials said that the fire started in a shop in Mahalaxmi Market and soon spread to the adjacent shops. Apart from the smoke, the stench of burning plastic and rubber polluted the air.
Delhi Fire Services Director Atul Garg told PTI, “The cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained.” Traders covered their faces with masks and handkerchiefs and waited impatiently to enter their burnt shops to recover whatever was left of the fire. “I don’t think anything is left. We have lost several crores,” said Sanjay Kumar, sitting in a lane adjacent to one of the affected buildings.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal expressed grief over the incident and said that he is taking stock of the situation from the concerned district administration.
In a similar incident in September, a massive fire broke out on the top floor of a three-storey commercial building and destroyed 80 shops. In this incident, the traders claimed a loss of about Rs 400 crore and demanded compensation from the government.
A trader said, “We have written to the Delhi government several times to take corrective measures in the market. But no action has been taken so far. There is a fire every five to six months. There are wires hanging everywhere.” and there is no fire warning system. No infrastructure improvement has been done”.
Here, fire officials said that weak structures, lack of water and narrow streets make it a big challenge for them to extinguish the fire.
In a tweet, Delhi Fire Service director Atul Garg said, “A total of 40 fire engines and over 200 fire personnel were deployed to contain the fire at Chandni Chowk. As per the data shared by the fire department, the Delhi Fire Service has Till 23 November this year, 40 calls related to fire have been attended to in Chandni Chowk.
